


"What Just Happened?"

by Flamebearrel



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Based off character trailers in Smash Ultimate, Gen, Master Hand is a stressed boy, Master Hand's POV, May get more chapters in the future, Oneshot unless I change my mind, POV Third Person Limited, Permadeath AU, Possibly counts as a panic attack?, Shock, The fighters are all friendly outside of battle and this includes the Hands, no ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-04 23:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16798984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamebearrel/pseuds/Flamebearrel
Summary: There is no better grand finale to a just-as-grand celebration than the sudden murder of two of the universe's greatest fighters. On live camera. Right after a reunion.If this is the general consensus, Master Hand's opinion is definitely an outlier.(An alternate universe where those killed in Smash Bros. Ultimate's character trailers are unable to be brought back to life and leave the roster permanently.)





	"What Just Happened?"

What just happened?

It was a blur, confusing, as the fighters watching the projector screen suddenly gasped in unison, and immediately went into a panic.

Master Hand was in shock. He floated silently, still holding the clipboard with all of his announcements in a neat little line on it. He could feel himself shaking, just a bit. The view of the man through the magical lens dipped a moment and he had no choice but to will his core to steady it again.

Mario’s crumpled body was lying in the center of the screen.

Blood trickled from the man’s temples where the skin and muscle had been punctured. It came out like sludge against his ruffled hair, which was a futile attempt of hiding the deep claw wounds behind it. His body rested in a weird angle, like someone getting ready to spin in a circle, full of laughter, except he wasn’t laughing. It was clear from his deformed, soulless eyes that the plumber was dead.

What just _happened?_

Only feet away, in the corner of the screen, lay Mega Man. A hole was punched straight through him. Wires, frayed and sparking, had spilled onto the floor like guts. Upon closer inspection you could see a glint of gold and white and red from the tattered IC chip that lay broken in two. As Master Hand zoomed in, the LED accents in the robot’s eyes flickered out, leaving nothing else to break the dust that swirled around where they had fallen.

The screaming grew and grew. “Oh Naga. He’s dead,” came a voice. There was a thump, and everyone turned to see Luigi unconscious on the carpet, in a suspiciously similar position as his brother. Little Mac, not wanting to see blood of Mario’s caliber, picked up the green plumber and rushed to the health wing. He came back with a pale face and a reminder that they were now short of a doctor. Peach shrieked. Lucas sobbed. Palutena stood with her hands to her mouth, frozen. Panic. Panic. Panic.

_What just happened?_

Master Hand remembered checking his to-do list, issued personally from Sakurai, then called for volunteers to retrieve the next newcomer. Mario, as usual, had wanted to help, and Mega Man and Samus had joined soon after. He remembered hesitation in the blond bounty hunter’s eyes as he let them know who it was. Ridley. The hesitation had stirred there for no longer than a moment before it was replaced with fierce determination. They nodded. And they left to the Space Pirate’s lair. 

He remembered calling everyone to the room where announcements always made their mark. Over sixty heads staring up at him, and then the smiles at the news of everyone’s reunion, excited princesses as Daisy burst through the doors. There had been an almost unanimous wave of approval over the crowd, and at the end the projector light had dimmed and their eyes all widened and he signaled his far away volunteers and went live.

The sound of the three stepping across the metal floor had sent a hush over the fighters. Through the lens, Mega Man had raised his robotic hand and it morphed into a gun. The tips of Mario’s fingers fizzled with unseen flame. Samus clutched her arm cannon.

He remembered sudden movement, a shadow, perhaps, as it flickered across the walls. It had swooped and picked up Mega Man. He remembered hearing the “bew, bew, bew” of the alert that signaled fatal amounts of damage as he whisked the camera around. He had, on live film, recorded a violet tail stab through the robot’s chest and drop him over the edge.

Master Hand remembered a red cap flying over the lens. He remembered faintly hearing the crack of a skull.

The cap had been picked up just as Mario’s corpse followed the Blue Bomber’s. Ridley had twirled it on his finger. He remembered, the hand had turned the camera to Samus, suddenly aware of the Space Pirate. Cannon raised and aimed for the purple snout in front of her, the bounty hunter got ready to fire. He remembered seeing her shoot and Ridley screeching and swooping towards her and the lens getting battered against the dust.

He remembered _remembering_ , reminding himself that the plumber and the robot were rotting away at the bottom of the pit and sending the camera down said pit almost immediately. Down, down it had gone, hundreds of feet into the deep abyss. He remembered seeing the corpses come into view and thinking for a moment that they were just lying there, dazed, half-asleep. He remembered finding the truth was just the opposite. He remembered the gasps and the screams and the panic.

 _That_ just happened.

“What are you doing? Don’t just- don’t just stand there! Do something!”

The shivering was suppressed for a moment. “W-what?”

Ness pointed to the screen, biting hard on his lip before saying, “You can’t just leave them there, right? Teleport them here, or, I don’t know! Can’t you do that?”

No. No he couldn’t. If there was one thing Master Hand couldn’t do, that was teleport. Not himself, which would have let him bring them back, and not anything else, not anything like a 1-UP or extra Life to shoot their way and offer immediate healing. What power was there in the hand if none of it could be used when it mattered?

The two heroes had ran out of time. There were only a few moments before that little window when Lives could take effect disappeared and they were gone forever. As the fighters screamed, the hand could do nothing but watch in dismay. Mario and Mega Man seemed to shimmer for a moment. Then their colors dulled. So did the sound. And then there was nothing but the cool atmosphere sitting and absorbing the silence.

Master Hand did whatever was the hand equivalent of swallowing before the camera moved again and flew back up. There was still one hero out there. Someone could still be saved. As fast as it could go, the camera whisked its way up to Samus.

Ridley stood triumphantly over a pile of broken armor.

Resisting the urge to start shivering again, Master Hand took a deep breath.

And Samus, in her Zero Suit, leaped out of the silent nothing and fired at Ridley.

 _Bang. Bang. Bang._ The Space Pirate dodged the gunshots, the bounty hunter dodged his claws. His tail jabbed forward and she ducked down, sliding on her knees. With a spin, she kicked at his legs to knock him down. He grabbed her shoulder, wrenched it towards him as he hit the ground.

Samus pressed down on the trigger. A shot blazed towards the purple creature and grazed his arm. Screeching, he went to headbutt her. She turned.

For a moment, she stared straight into the lens.

Samus seemed to nod at it before his head connected with her back. She shot at the camera. It twitched and glitched, and then the screen went black.

There was quiet.

Then the mutters. Everyone talking at once, varying levels of sound, unsure whether to blame someone, or follow suit, or yell or even just sit and think. At first they just spoke amongst themselves, but then people were turning to Master Hand and drilling him with questions.

“Is Samus okay?!”

“What do we do?!”

“Master Hand, Master Hand…”

“A-are they really dead?”

“Who sent them there?”

“Master Hand, Master Hand…”

“Why… why would Ridley do that…?”

“We have to save them!”

“Master Hand…!”

“What’s going on?!”

“ _What. Just. Happened?!_ ”

Master Hand decided he needed to lie down for a while.

**Author's Note:**

> Help this poor man
> 
> He's in charge of keeping everything on schedule under Sakurai to make it all great, and as Mister Orderly guy this SUDDEN DEATH probably doesn't help
> 
> I really, really like this idea, but I'm not completely sure if I should continue this? I'm a bit uncertain how to write the in-between chapters and don't want to run out of motivation on you guys-
> 
> It would continue through the trailers with a bit of development in between, and end with the World of Light opening trailer, where, as you know, they all die ;)
> 
> But I'm proud of this! I think I'm really improving with writing more emotionally and with action scenes!
> 
> Also I tried not to stress who was saying what that much but the "Oh Naga" line was absolutely Robin


End file.
